Well, we finally had a GOOD weekend and the results from it were AMAZING.

Saturday...We had both members and learners out in light to moderate winds with the best winds after lunch with gusts up to 16 knots down near the top of Crab Island. I finally had a chance to test out my injured shoulder and despite a bit of trouble with capsize recovery I managed to sail for around two hours. My only problem on Sunday was sore legs from hiking out ( need more practice ).

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Regatta news...The Open Bic Regatta set for the end of June is starting to take shape. Allan Morton and I having a meeting with our local Councillor (Cameron Caldwell) The outcome being that we have his-full support in closing the car-park for the regatta and and his help with promoting the event in our local area.Volunteers: Now that the event is taking shape the club will be looking for volunteers to help with Boat driving, boat crews, land based support people and also on water judges.

If you think you can help with any of these jobs just let us know at the Club.

Sunday... started with the biggest group of Juniors with the early class topping twenty and the Learn to Race group topping out at ten. After looking through the club records it turned out the biggest roll up in the Clubs' short history.

Thank you to Pieter V, Jasmine Butler, George Morton and Lachy Reid for volunteering on the day.

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Rescue Boat Training.. I will be running an Introduction to rescue boat duties on Sunday 7th of April starting at 1.30 and finishing at 4.30 pm . You don’t need a boat license to gain the experience with the rescue boats and their operation so, again, if you would like to learn some new and valuable skills just let me know at the club (warning numbers are limited).

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Easter Holiday - Club OpeningSaturday 30th March and Open for members with own boat on demandAlso check the Easter School Holiday Camp DatesHERE

Race No 10...It was also the last race of our Summer Series with a marathon race around Crab Island. Good winds and reasonable powerboat traffic, some of whom need to have another read of the rule book regarding sailing vessels.Chris Connell was first over the line, but the award for best sail goes to (Judge) John Brown who started last after being early for the start (sorry John I had no choice). After capsizing at the top of Sovereign he then fought back and came home third. I think that was a great effort considering his health scare only a week ago! He even found his hiking pants !!! Another mention on the day goes to the Juniors (Lachy, George and William) who battled around the course with only Lachy going for his usual swim on the run.

Well, we have certainly had a BIG week at the Club, all starting with a group of 45 kids from Wynnum North Primary school coming down on Thursday for a learn to sail day. Not only did they have a great day but even the weather was kind to us with winds from 5 to 12 knots all day. Thank you to the volunteers ( Pieter Verstoep , Aidan Verstoep and John Musgrave) for all their help, especially to John Mus for all the swimming he did on the day resulting from capsizing and jumping in the water to help right boats.

Greetings to all the frustrated sailors out there! We finally managed to have a Sunday without rain and wind speeds in excess of 30knots. Our morning Juniors had a great sail with conditions perfect for the 7 year-olds to learn their steering skills. They were then able to venture out and sail around the buoys with the other, more experienced, kids. Our second Junior session which includes Junior race practice was also well attended with 8 competitors on the water including a couple of newbies in Richard and Kayla. They both gave a good account of themselves against the more experienced kids. At times they reminded me of the Senior race fleet with boats running into sandbars, yelling rules at each other (pity they were the wrong rules) and confusion as to who has to give way. Yep, definitely sounds familiar .

Racing was held yesterday with winds from 7 to 16 knots which made it a fast race, especially for Chris Connell who established a healthy lead by the time he crossed the finish line (cant beat a full rig for speed). A special thanks to Maurie's wife Trisha for organizing a barby after racing yesterday. It definitely hit the spot and its great to get together with everyone and have a chat and a few laughs. We have to say good bye and safe trip to Maurie and Trish as they are heading off for three months to Brazil and Florida. Should be a great trip, lucky sods. Oh, I nearly forgot: Trish said I had to remind everyone of Maurie's win a couple of weeks ago. So job done, have a great time guys !

Things have been very slow lately at the Club with consistent cancellations or races due to the ongoing weather. We managed to run Juniors on the 24th Feb as well as racing (Race 5 - two races), but this last weekend was a total washout with heavy rain and wind gusts in excess of 30knots.Sailability has set up a crane mounting on our pontoon as part of their temporary operation at our club, but like the rest of us they have not been able to operate due to this weather. They are getting as frustrated as us and the rest of the Gold Coast with this weather.

Well it looks like the weather finally gave us a break this week with good conditions on both Saturday and Sunday.

Our Junior sessions were well attended with over twenty juniors attending both our learn to sail and also the Junior racing program. In the Junior racing Dillon Lynch continued his good form from last week with a first in 4 out of the 5 races with Charlie Reece coming a close second in 4 races and after main-sheet repairs winning the 5 race with Dillon a close second.

The open Summer Series was held in 6 to 10 knots with a strong outgoing tide making the start very tricky with the current trying to push everyone over the line. The conditions also made seeing the sand bars difficult but I did notice a few competitors trying the system of: "If you come to a sudden stop, yep you've hit the sand!"

After racing, the Club held its 2012 Season Presentation and AGM with an excellent turnout by members.

The top positions in 2012 Sailing Season were:

Open Race Series Adult

1 st John Musgrave

2nd Roger Margot

3rd Pieter Verstoep

Juniors

1st George Morton

2nd Thomson Hand

3rd Lachlan Reid

Election of Committee at AGM

Peter Crouch retained the position of Secretary ( unopposed ) Pieter Verstoep retained the position of Treasurer ( unopposed ) and John Murphy retained the position of President ( unopposed )

OTHER NEWS

As part of our community involvement we have offered the use of the club premises to Sailability Gold Coast until such time as their facilities at SYC Hollywell have been repaired following the recent cyclone which severely damaged their pontoons .

Sailability is running at test day on Tuesday the 12 February to work out the changes needed to operate from our pontoon. Providing everything goes well they will hopefully start inviting their clients to Paradise Point so they can continue their sailing activities.

Well, the last couple of weekends have been very interesting weather, race two of the summer series was obviously cancelled with wind gusts reaching in excess of 50 knots and sustaining those strengths over the next 36 hrs . The club suffered some damage with building and electrical damage but all in all we came out a lot better than some other parts of the coast .

Then we had last weekend with race three of the series where we managed to complete the first race.

Due to increasing winds 30 + knots and an outgoing tide the second race was shortened. This made Pieter Verstoep very happy as John ( JUDGE ) Brown was on his transom .

We had a few away at the titles as well and we should be able to let everyone know next week how they went.Our leading Junior sailor George Morton after competing in the NZ Open Bic Nationals came home with a 4th overall and 3rd in under fifteen , he then backed that result up with a 5thb overall and 3rd in under thirteen in the Youth Nationals ( Open Bic ) in Foster . The competition was fierce with both state and national champions competing in both events so Well done George .The clubs annual AGM and Presentation is this weekend ( Sunday 10th ) starting with the presentation at 16.30 hrs and then the AGM to follow. All members are invited to come along and cheer everyone at the presentation and then stick around for the AGM to hear how your club is progressing for the future.

Please take time to read the Notice of Race (NOR) document, shown below. All interested to participate in Summer Series 2013 races are kindly requested to print the last page of the NOR document, fill it in and submit it to John Murphy at the Club premisses, before or on the date of the first scheduled race. We appreciate your assistance.